10 Actions / 100 Days: The Next Steps After Saturday’s Historic, Global March

On Saturday, January 21, 2017, millions of women from across the globe marched in solidarity with the main event, the Women’s March on Washington. In fact, there was a march on every continent that day. Women and men throughout the world gathered en masse with their t-shirts, their hand-made signs, their sisters, partners, children and friends, all for one common cause. No matter how you feel about the message sent by the marchers, I do hope we can all appreciate what a truly magnificent and organized effort it was. But our opponents do some at least one valid point: You marched… now what? Is that it, or is there more? Indeed, a very quick Google search will inform anyone looking for the real answer to those questions, and not “alternative facts”, would find that there were clear “Unity Principles” lined out prior to the March. Now that the March has taken place, the Founders have outlined “10 Actions / 100 Days.”

It is the next step in a very long process to try and promote change through peaceful protest partnered with a clear agenda. The first step is gathering together with your fellow sisters and allies and writing and mailing postcards to your congressmen and women and letting them know that we will not sit idly by why they strip our rights. We will force them to look us in the eyes and make them see that we are people, not objects to be legislated. Give them a face to think about as they wield the pens they will use to rewrite the narrative of my life, of our lives.

Women’s March

Millions of people marched, and not one arrest was made. But yo, ladies, I feel the need to say this: Leaving your signs on the sidewalk outside of Trump Tower? Not cool. Trump’s not going to clean that shit up, but a custodian in the hotel will. Don’t trash your environment when one your principles is trying to protect it, no matter whose name is on the land title. The March was an astounding step in the right direction, but our work is far from over.

I admire the hell out of every single one of you. Remember what we’re fighting for. Do not let their vitriol distract and detract from the mission. If you find reasonable opponents, encourage open, two-way conversation, and listen as often as you speak, if not more.

We must always practice what we preach, and not get lost in the pettiness of those who seek to oppress us. Instead, take inspiration from these incredible women below, who had never met prior to Saturday’s Women’s March, and yet they used the internet to rehearse it together and perfect it before they performed it live throughout the main D.C. event. This is what it’s all about. Supporting each other, learning together, and growing alongside one another.